The latest collection: Art from hip-hop to Picasso

The St. Louis Art Museum has a brand new soundtrack this year. Hip-hop was the subject of an exhibition exploring its influence on contemporary art. The exhibition, titled Culture: hip-hop and contemporary art in the 21st century (previously held at the Baltimore Museum of Art), includes more than 90 works.

One of the exhibition's curators, Andrea Pournelle, said: "Even people who don't consider themselves hip-hop fans suddenly find themselves in the artwork, and that's the whole point. And those who truly love hip-hop find an even deeper love for the art. "

With graffiti, fashion will be featured in all its glory. But some artists describe hip-hop as an integral part of their nature. "It's basically infiltrating from the inside out," Purnell said. Some artworks change the perception of art itself by using unexpected materials. For example, Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola's piece "Camouflage #105 (Metropolis)" is made of dozens of durags. Other works utilize familiar song lyrics, such as Alvaro Barrington's dedication to Tupac Shakur. "You literally see the lyrics to 'Keep Your Head Up' and you make the connection right away," Pournelle said. Artist Aaron Fowler, whose giant 400-pound sneakers are made from auto parts, said his inspiration came from hip-hop.

It's that spirit that Pournelle hopes visitors to the exhibit will take away with them. "The hope is that you take away with you a new song, a new way of thinking about this music that we know and love and how it's made our society so much better. I think this is just the beginning. "

But even if you can't visit St. Louis this year, there are plenty of other trade shows to check out. Museums across the country - from the Art Institute of Chicago to the Dallas Museum of Art - are marking the fiftieth anniversary of Pablo Picasso's death with exhibitions of his work. Beverly Hills artist Ewa Juszkiewicz is turning the familiar upside down with an exhibition at Gagosian in the near future. On the East Coast, two women artists are getting special attention. In Washington, D.C., bright colors adorn the walls of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and in New York, Ruth Asawa's work is now on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Today, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened a Manet/Degas exhibit featuring the two French artists side by side. The exhibition presents a historic event: the painting "Olympia" by Manet appears in the United States for the first time... and perhaps this visit will inspire others to check out the museum for themselves.